If someone tells you that they can name all the damaging effects of smoking in a few simple sentences most likely hasn’t kept up with all the latest research and scientific data available right now. It appears that every time a government institute or science lab does some type of study on smoking, there is yet another bunch of items to add to the list of harmful effects of smoking.

Many people certainly know about lung cancer and easily connect that with the habit of smoking. But what’s more, did you know that infertility in both men and women is considered another side effect of smoking? In men, smoking chokes out healthy oxygen that keeps sperm healthy and active. Having “lazy” or “slow” sperm is one common cause of a man’s infertility; the sperm are just not fit enough to make the long trip toward a woman’s egg! In women, smoking can interfere with her ovulation process, keeping healthy blood flow to her fallopian tubes. Not being able to release a healthy egg each month is one major cause of a woman’s infertility – and yet many women don’t recognize that this decreased capacity to conceive a child is a common side effect of smoking!

When talking about cancer, the lungs are just one part of the body that’s affected. Many smokers get cancer in the mouth and throat areas as well, as obviously any part of the body that comes into such close contact with cigarettes is going to be more prone to cancerous cells.

Because the tar and nicotine from cigarettes is absorbed into the bloodstream, and blood travels round the body to each and every cell, there is the possibility for cancerous cells to develop in virtually any area of the body. Breast cancer, cervical cancer, cancer of the liver, and cancer of the kidneys are also thought to be additional side effects of smoking. As a matter of fact, many doctors and researchers are tying virtually any cancer into the contamination that smoking brings to the body!

And obviously the effects of smoking on the body’s respiratory system are also too many to list. The lungs absorb the poisonous smoke from cigarettes but have no way of filtering out all those poisons. Every part of the respiratory system, from the bronchial tubes to the lung sacs themselves, are affected and injured with each and every cigarette.

So if you’re someone who’s considering trying to quit smoking, now is the time to do it. The harm you’re doing to your body is too great to ignore, and the list of harmful effects of smoking is just too long. It’s time to quit!

If your trying to quit smoking I can highly recommend Allen Carr’s book ‘Easy Way to Stop Smoking’ It’s available in the USA from Amazon.com and in the UK from Amazon.co.uk